07/09/2026
A Home Among The Gumtrees
By Michael Thompson
They’ve been around the mark a couple of times or maybe more, St Mary's Senior Football & Netball Club.
But the Burra are finally singing when it matters in Division 2, making the senior men’s first ever trek to Preston City Oval this week.
It’s been one hell of a build for the Burra – their growth over 17 years has proven a genuine triumph, built across utilising its powerful junior program.
Perhaps Nick Dean sums it up best.
“It’s amazing. When we started, we were a mid-table, near the bottom sort of team in Division 3, so the idea of playing in a grand final for a chance to go to Division 1 at the time would have seemed absurd, so it’s pretty amazing to be in that position considering where we’ve come from,” he said.
The story brought together Dean, Jake Dambrauskas and Nic Daisley talking to The Northern Footy Show as three of St Mary’s longest-serving players – Daisley, for his part, holds the games record at the club.
Daisley said there was plenty of excitement, having trained basically year-round.
“It’s an exciting time of year to still be playing footy. This is why we do it. We started back in October leading up to this point, and to still be here, still training, it’s exciting, you can feel it around the club,” he said.
Dambrauskas said the growth of the club can be accustomed to staying together as one.
“Just to get a chance to maybe have a crack at playing Division 1, a lot of players who have come through St Mary’s, especially through the juniors, have played Division 1, so it’s nice to see that, through the juniors, we are giving them a chance to where they deserve to be,” he said.
“We were part of a big group of boys coming through, Dais is a year older than us, but he had a few come through, Deano and I’s age group, and then a group below it, which pushed the club into the next phase, and it’s good to see that next phase of kids, getting a lot of Loyola boys, Parade boys coming to the club.”
That organic growth is crucial.
St Mary’s have historically never been a big ‘recruiting’ club as such, instead, it is one that has nurtured through junior-to-senior transition by selling its ‘one-club’ culture.
President Mark Stanley said the club has fully embraced that feeling.
“It’s extremely exciting. I moved from the junior club to the senior club in 2017, seeing us take the step from Division 3 to Division 2. We knew we could get there (to a Division 2 grand final), but to get there, it’s a dream. It’s fantastic for the club.” he said.
“I think we played with 28 points out of 45 (in the second semi-final). There’s a nucleus that played in the 2019 Division 1 under-19 grand final which we lost, but there’s about 12 or 13 players from that, and I think eight or nine of them would play in this grand final. There’s another surge that played in the under-19 grand final a couple of years ago, which they won, and they’ve stuck together, so it is a very homegrown team.
“The playing group have embraced it. The last couple of years, we knew there was Diamond Creek, Eltham, South Morang always seeming a little better than us, but we were competitive with them, but this year, I think there’s a real belief that we can beat any side on our day.”
Senior coach Jack Bianchin said it was all about a trust that the wheel would turn naturally.
“It’s been a long grind for those guys, as well as everyone at the club, we haven’t been a big recruiting club, it’s just trust the process, the junior club will keep producing quality players and we’ll bide our time,” he said.
“I know for some around here, it’s taken a bit longer than they would have hoped, but that was the process we wanted to take.
“I was a junior here myself, so I have strong ties to the club, and felt that from the time I stepped back, felt like I was walking back into home. I have some great memories here as a junior, so it’s special to be part of what we’re doing here.”
It was commonplace, before the senior arm of St Mary’s was established, for many players to not go on in their senior career.
Daisley said the club had to start from somewhere.
“There was no pathway back in the day, for anyone to come through and play footy, they’d all go elsewhere,” he said.
“We had to start from somewhere, and it was hard at the beginning, but as people saw the culture and the relationship the committee and the club had with the junior club, people started to see where this club was projecting and what we wanted to achieve. A lot of kids bought in and really enjoyed calling St Mary’s home as a senior club and making that transition.”
That has remained a point of difference at the Burra, according to Dean.
“We’ve brought in great people, but without that high-profile recruiting and backing juniors to come through and develop as a club, which is pretty cool,” he said.
“That next generation, they had a chance to go to other clubs when they were struggling, but they made a commitment, stayed with us, and then there’s the next group of 19-20-year-olds, they are incredibly talented and had opportunities to play at Division 1 clubs around the league. I wouldn’t have blamed them, but they’ve stuck fat as a group as well, so to give them an opportunity and the reward for that commitment they’ve made would be amazing.”
So, what’s the secret to the club’s all-in culture? Stanley says the support from top to bottom is crucial.
“When the girls’ program came in after COVID, Fab Carelli made sure we were one, and JB has adapted that to another level again. We train together, we warm-up together, functions and everything, everyone is onboard together,” he said.
“Everybody wants to be a part of one another’s game – if the girls play on a Friday night, players are here, the girls support the guys on the weekend. I’ve been around a lot of footy clubs, and I haven’t seen anything like this. It makes for a great place to be.
“We have people here who run the canteen bars, to the kitchen, to cleaning up at the end of the day, who’ve been here since 2009 when the senior club started, and they enjoy it. The new families who come along, they chip in, and it’s appreciated by the playing group.
“We haven’t gone outside recruiting, we have managed the club year-by-year to get it where it is, we haven’t just gone and buy 10 players and jump straight there, we’ve worked on our junior program, which has been very strong, and to build it up to where it is right now is fantastic.”
Bianchin backs him up – while revealing the playing list are set to stay together regardless of what happens on Saturday against Old Paradians at Preston City Oval.
“There’s a heap of amazing people here who have done a lot of hard work to get this club into the position it’s in now. We’ve had so many quality junior players leave the club over the years to join Division 1, and we’ve been told we’re not good enough for a long time, and now we’re setting the foundations for those kids to come in, stay and be at a good footy club where you can get better, you can improve and it’s an exciting time,” he said.
“It’s cool. For the most part with that stability, we have signed a lot of our list for next year, and the guys who haven’t, I think they’ll be pretty close. I can’t imagine many will leave; it is rare that people do leave this club. We already have some guys who are asking the question, wanting to enjoy it, and it’s all because of what the boys have been building culture-wise.
“We always say there’s no ego’s here, no di*****ds who walk into the rooms, it doesn’t matter who plays 19s, reserves, seniors, and it applies with the women’s program as well, we’re one unit.”
What about the players’ thoughts?
Dambrauskas says ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘acceptance’ plays its part.
“Family is one, the club has built its reputation on culture, and a lot of the older boys at the beginning pushed an inclusiveness and acceptance to everyone, it didn’t matter if you were 19s, reserves or seniors, everyone has a voice, everyone is listened to, it really brought that family aspect to St Mary’s, and we have a chance to prove it,” he said.
Daisley considers the club his ‘second family’.
“It’s a second family. A lot of people come and go, and I’ve been here a very long time, but there are some of the best friendships you have in the world. It’s hard to consider stepping away from that. When you have that difficulty, you know you are in the right place, because you enjoy the bonds, the friendships and everything that surround it,” he said.
Dean said there was mateship, but also responsibility of giving the young leaders of the club the opportunity to take the club into the future as well.
“It’s mateship over the years, it’s a community of people who put their hand in, do whatever they can do to help out. Like Dais’ said, your best mates play at the club for a number of years, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, you love coming down on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to come hang with your mates and footy is a part of it as well,” he said.
“It means a lot, we’re at the other side of our careers, there’s not long left, but it’s a big thrill for us, and it’s more important to some of the younger boys like Tane Cotter, Huon MacGibbon, those other leaders who haven’t had a chance to play in some of these big games, we’re rapt for them as well.”
Daisley also added that it was a long time coming to play on Preston City Oval once again – the club, a regular staple of under-19s contention, spent much of their earlier years competing for flags on the ground.
“We haven’t been there (at Preston City Oval) since our under-19s premiership in about 2014, so it’s been a while since we played there, but if we get the same result we got that day, there will be some excited supporters. That’s the plan anyway,” he said.
“It’s a dream in a way. I never planned to play Division 1 football here, but to consider we’re one win away from it is a pretty crazy feeling. I don’t think a lot of people would have pencilled in for that. The last few years, we’ve been going about our business, getting the right people in the right positions and we’ve been building slowly. It’s starting to pay off now.”
The last word goes to Stanley. Does he think St Mary’s are ready for the potential jump into Division 1?
“I think it’s nearly a dream, isn’t it? I think we’re ready for it. You talk about Montmorency, Heidelberg, Greensborough, we could be a part of that. We have formed a culture that is now about hanging on to our juniors, they aren’t going to those clubs. If we play in Division 1, it would be very exciting,” he said.
09/09/2026
09/09/2026
08/09/2026
08/09/2026
08/09/2026
07/09/2026
07/09/2026
07/09/2026
06/09/2026